Side effects of anterior cervical decompression and fusion procedures may include post-operative dysphagia. This condition, making swallowing difficult or impossible, can be relatively long lasting, with up to twelve percent of patients with dysphagia symptoms still having those symptoms a year after surgery. Surgeons and scientists are researching whether the incidence and recovery from dysphagia corresponds with the size of the surgical dissection, the trauma induced by retractors, and the length of the time the retractors are used to maintain an open surgical site.
Conventional retractors are placed at a surgical site and used to retract tissue based solely upon a surgeons preference and experience. A surgeon conventionally attempts to “feel” when the retractor applies excessive loading to the tissue. If the loading links to the incidence of dysphagia, it would be helpful to have a system for monitoring loading or other parameters indicative of the state of the tissue.
The systems and methods disclosed herein address one or more of the shortcomings of the prior art.